How to survive the GMAT in 3 weeks!

This is definitely not the best way to do it, but if you are stuck in a similar situation that I was with loads of lethargy floating around and no willpower to get going, these may help you:

1. Get some help
The best thing that can help you is someone who can push you. Someone who can look you in the face and tell you that it's high time to start now. A thousand books and people will tell you that this person is you, but they lie! What's stopped you from getting it started is you in the first place and unless you want to spend the remaining 3 weeks in introspection and then postpone your exam, you should find that someone. Fortunately for me, it was my wife. She gave me a verbal ass-kicking that got me started.

2. Self-realization is not the end but the start
The best way to learn something is to fall face-first into it. First day of my 3 weeks, I attempted a full test. I failed miserably , was ashamed of the score I got; kicked myself a few times in addition to the previous butt-kicking; got scared; contemplated postponing the exam but when I finally sat with that sore ass and looked back, I realized my weak points. I will leave you to find yours.

3. Work towards your weaknesses
The earlier you start to work on your weaknesses, the better. Each person has a different style and I cannot undermine anybody's choice of method, but if you are about to go to war the day after, a study of artillery is not going to help you. So what do you do to learn? Practice. Fail and fail over until you see a glimmer of hope and finally maybe success. I did not see tremendous success in my weak points, but working on them helped me gain some confidence that helped me on the final day.

4. Do not forget your strengths
Plain simple, you do not give up your means of making your bread and butter. Do not stress on your strengths, but do not ignore them. If you are strong at math, but know that you take some time at word problems, solve a few more of them.

5. Use the prep material and exams provided by GMAC
Use other material to study if you have to, but avoid taking exams from other providers than GMAC. As you approach your exam, you want confidence and exams other than the GMAC provided ones rarely provide that.


Hope this helps.